10 Years is a Long Time, 10 Years is a Short Time
by LunarCatNinja
Summary: I've been reading fanfiction for 10 years now and I wanted to give back a little to something that has stayed with me through good and bad times and thank some of the authors who have given me so much.


We start in a room full of light and color. Banners hang on the walls, ribbons and confetti everywhere, and in the middle of it all are two individuals.

"I can't believe it's already been ten years!" exclaims a somewhat short man with messy black hair, glasses, and expressive green eyes filled with excitement. "Calm down Harry, we need to finish up to start the party," replies a man, slightly older than Harry in appearance, with styled brown hair, red eyes, and a highly aristocratic appearance.

"But Toooooooooooom" Harry whines, "How can you not be excited?"

"Potter what have I told you about using that name," snaps the older man, "You may call me Voldemort or even Marvolo. Either one is better than _Tom_ " he hisses out. "But you look more like diary you than snake-face you," Harry retorted. "I don't _care_ " Tom/Voldemort/Marvolo replied.

The newly revealed Voldemort and Harry Potter give each other stubborn glares before Harry huffs and replies "Fine. Whatever. Let's just finish this up for the party!"

Then the two go about fixing up the room, making places for food, drinks, and chairs for people to rest in. Afterwards the two go on their separate ways.

~Line Break~

The day of the party and things are great!

 _SMASH!_

Mostly.

"WHO BROKE THE PUNCH BOWL" raged Voldemort. "I'm sure it was an accident" Harry tried to placate. "Shut up Potter! Now who did it," Voldemort demanded.

One of the party goers approaches. He was a man with gravity defying silver hair, a grey eye with the other covered by a headband with a strange leaf symbol on the metal plate and a grey and white yukata on. "Maa, maa, you can blame my cute little student for that. He was apparently going to spike the punch as a prank, but got caught before he could," explains the man. "Kakashi-sensei, why'd you rat me out!" shouts a spiky blond haired young adult with bright blue eyes, strange whisker like marks on his face, and a horrible orange yukata on as he runs away in fear from the killer intent that Voldemort was giving off.

"It's your own fault Naruto for trying to disturb the party before the guest of honor even arrives" Kakashi retorts uncaringly to his student fleeing from the room. Voldemort sighs in exasperation before taking out his wand to fix the mess and then move on to check on the other guests.

Voldemort saw Harry chatting with two boys and a girl. The girl had green hair and cat-like yellow eyes wearing black, while one boy had black hair and violet eyes with an aristocratic bearing dressed in black and the other hand slightly messy brown hair and green eyes dressed in white. Rolling his eyes Voldemort avoids the group and then walks past two of his fellow dark lords, Darth Vader and Darth Revan who nod at him as he walks past.

Looking around the room he sees a group of dwarves along with a few hobbits and a wizard that reminds him too much of Dumbledore, a large group of men and women from Vongola which includes their Decimo and his guardians, a ghost boy turning back into a human chatting with his family and friends while capping a thermos of all things, a group of teenagers that appears to be talking to a cat about something called personas while they wear strange masks, a group of young adults with dragons whose leader seems to have a prosthetic on his left leg while his dragon partner has a prosthetic on its left tailfin, a group of men with wild hair and glowing eyes and large swords talking about something called mako, and a group of spirits of those muggle holidays. 'What a strange group of individuals,' Voldemort thinks to himself as he approaches the most important group.

"Greetings favorite authors," Voldemort says charmingly. "I'm so glad you can be here, as our guest of honor really appreciates all the years they've spent reading your stories."

The group consists of Sakurademonalchemist, I.W.P.-chan, Nemesis13, AsreonInfusion, phoenixmaiden13, LokasennaHiddleston, Ibelieveinahappilyeverafter, strifescloud, esama, icynovas, pt_tucker, WandererRiha, Metamorcy, LittleMissXanda, Athy, robst, The Carnivorous Muffin, TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel, sunryder, ShaeraHaek, Seito, valiantarmor, VFSNAKE, hinatasgreatestfan, warorpeace, Le'letha, 1337kitsune, IBegToDreamAndDiffer, Mystic 777, rhead-a-holyc, Kira Akuma, Umei no Mai, Zaidee Lighthart, and so SO many more to name. Pages worth. Only a MINISCULE amount of authors could fit in the room, as the rest all fade into the horizon as far as the eye can see and beyond. All who wrote stories that were so loved, and so many that are still writing beloved stories.

"Our guest of honor, formerly animefanbren, currently going by LunarCatNinja now that they have more accounts over the internet would like to thank each and every one of you for all you've done for them," Voldemort told the authors. "They cannot express their joy at reading your stories enough, and they are constantly looking forward to reading more stories. Do not let my words alone tell you this, but let us walk further into the room where our guest of honor shall give a speech" Voldemort explained before leading all who could fit further in.

Up on a stage in front of all the party goers stands the guest of honor ready to make a speech about the past 10 years and how wonderful fanfiction has been for them. LunarCatNinja has changed much over the years, going from a child's name of animefanbren to a name that can be seen all across the web connecting to one person. With short hair and wearing a dark blue suit they smile at the crowd.

"Greetings, greetings one and all," they start, "these last ten years have been amazing and wonderful and words cannot describe how happy I've been to be reading fanfiction for all these years. A decade is a long time after all."

"Ten years ago to this day, I was introduced to fanfiction by my mother, who helped me create my account and warned me of lemons and limes and showed me how to find stories. The first stories I read where those of Harry Potter as I have been a fan since I was a small child. Since then I have entered new fandoms, but never leaving old ones, ESPECIALLY never leaving the Harry Potter fandom. I can now say I've been a part of it for most of my life, so because of that I am happy that Harry Potter and Voldemort could help oversee arrangements for this party. To me it gives more meaning to the entire thing," LunarCatNinja takes a breath and continues, "to all the authors who could fit in the room I thank you, and to all that I've favorited but couldn't fit due to space constraints I thank you as well. All of you have been wonderful. You still are. Your stories have been there for me in good times and in bad. They have allowed me to get away from the stresses of life and enter amazing worlds that brought me excitement and joy and helped me to relax. So for that I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!"

Walking down from the stage as the crowd cheers, LunarCatNinja smiles again and starts mingling with the crowd, content that these past 10 years is only the beginning for a lifetime of fun and happiness and feels and joy and adventure and excitement.

~Line Break~

After the party and all the guests leave LunarCatNinja sits with Harry and Voldemort. The banners are cleaned up along with the ribbons and confetti and everything else. The food has been eaten, and the guests left full and content.

LunarCatNinja breaks the silence, "I really do want to thank you two as well. From beginning to end you both have been here. I've learned so much from you and the authors who write about you. I look forward to many more."

With their piece said they settle back into content silence with Harry who smiles and Voldemort who smirks as the three gaze into the sky to look at the stars. In the silence LunarCatNinja smiles and wonders just how many more stories and authors they'll read in the next ten years and the time after that.

Cheers to another 10 years of fanfiction and another and another and another.


End file.
